Do You Bring God Down?

If a stranger were to evaluate you based on a random, five-minute video clip from your life, what conclusions would they draw?

It’s a provocative question. I wonder how a stranger would respond about my life?

Would they declare me a disciple? Would they see me as a loving person? Or would they think of me as a hypocrite, stingy, or hate-filled? Would they call me religious, a worrier, rude, or self-centered?

We are the only person who is with ourselves 100% of the time. We are the only ones who know our whole story.

But what does the world see when it looks at us? What do our coworkers think? What conclusions are made by the person behind us in the checkout?

How about the guy you see every week at the gym? And the girl who gets her coffee at the same cafe as you? What about the homeless person you pass on the way to the ball game?

It is the Church’s fault that there are people in the world who deny or even question the existence of God. How can we expect the world to believe and live as if there is a God, when we, who follow Him, often live like He’s not real?

We need to live as if the Holy God of the universe is actually living inside of us because, guess what, HE IS!

We need to get beyond going to church on Sunday and inviting our friends to meet Jesus there, to instead, being the Church every day and carrying Jesus out into the world.

Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t invite our friends to church. But what I am saying is this: “going to church” doesn’t look as appealing as it once did, because the people of the church don’t look like the Church outside of the church.

If we, who claim to be disciples, live in the power of the Holy Spirit, the world will not be asking, “Is God real?” It will be asking, “How can we be a part of that?”

We need to stop living as if God is “up there,” and, instead, bring Him “down here.” That has always been the role of the Church, to continue the manifestation of the life of Christ here on earth.

It’s not believing in Christ that makes us a part of the Church, it’s being Christ together that makes us the Church.